Weeks 6 and 7 Race and Identity

Module: Reading In Culture
Session: Spring 2021

Prof. Ikbale Bouziane
Race and Cultural
Identity
What is race?
• Race, the idea that the human species is divided into
distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and
behavioral differences. Genetic studies in the late 20th
century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct
races, and scholars now argue that “races” are cultural
interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that
were imposed on different populations in the wake of
western European conquests beginning in the 15th
century.
• Race is defined as “a category of humankind that shares

certain distinctive physical traits.” “Race” is usually
associated with biology and linked with physical
characteristics such as skin color or hair texture.
What is ethnicity?
• The term ethnicity is

more broadly defined
as “large groups of
people classed
according to common
racial, national, tribal,
religious, linguistic, or
cultural origin or
background.”
• “Ethnicity” is linked
Note!!!!
• Race and ethnicity both are

social constructs used to categorize and characte
rize seemingly distinct populations
.
• Race and ethnicity are often regarded as the

same, but the social and biological sciences
consider the concepts distinct. In general, people
can adopt or deny ethnic affiliations more readily
than racial ones,
Racial discrimination
• White supremacy: beliefs and ideas purporting natural
superiority of the lighter-skinned, or “white,” human
races over other racial groups. In contemporary usage,
the term white supremacist has been used to describe
some groups espousing ultranationalist, racist, or fascist
doctrines. White supremacist groups often have relied
on violence to achieve their goals.
• Apartheid: policy that governed relations between

South Africa’s white minority and nonwhite majority and
sanctioned racial segregation and political and
economic discrimination against nonwhites.
• Slavery: condition in which one
human being was owned by another.
A slave was considered by law as
property, or chattel, and was
deprived of most of the rights
ordinarily held by free persons.
- White Slavery: refers to the

chattel slavery of Europeans, whether
by non-Europeans (such as Middle
Easterns and North Africans), or by
other Europeans (for example naval
galley slaves or the Vikings' thralls).
Slaves of European origin were
present in ancient Rome and the
Ottoman Empire. (The Barbary Slave
Trade).
What solutions?
• Affirmative action: was initiated by the administration of
President Lyndon Johnson (1963–69) in order to improve
opportunities for African Americans while civil rights
legislation was dismantling the legal basis for
discrimination.
- The practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to
groups known to have been discriminated against
previously; positive discrimination.
• Call out racist “jokes” or statements.
• Validate the experiences and feelings of people of color.
• Examine your own biases and consider where they may
have originated.
Cultural Identity
What is identity?
• Identity is “people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of
people they are, and how they relate to others” (Hogg and Abrams
1988, 2).
• “Identity is used in this book to describe the way individuals and

groups define themselves and are defined by others on the basis of
race, ethnicity, religion, language, and culture” (Deng 1995, 1).
• Identity “refers to the ways in which individuals and collectivities

are distinguished in their social relations with other individuals and
collectivities” (Jenkins 1996, 4).
• Identities are “relatively stable, role-specific understandings and

expectations about self” (Wendt 1992, 397).
What is cultural identity?
• It is the identity of belonging to a group. It is part

of a person's self-conception and self-perception
and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion,
social class, generation, locality or any kind of
social group that has its own distinct culture.
• Cultural identity is both characteristic of the

individual but also of the culturally identical
group of members sharing the same cultural
identity or upbringing
Practice
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Weeks 6 and 7 Race and Identity

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Module: Reading In Culture

Session: Spring 2021

• Race is defined as “a category of humankind that shares

• The term ethnicity is

• Race and ethnicity both are

• Race and ethnicity are often regarded as the

• Apartheid: policy that governed relations between

- White Slavery: refers to the

• “Identity is used in this book to describe the way individuals and

• Identity “refers to the ways in which individuals and collectivities

• Identities are “relatively stable, role-specific understandings and

• It is the identity of belonging to a group. It is part

• Cultural identity is both characteristic of the

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